Environmental Waste International

Beginning in 1992-93, Environmental Waste International has focused on the development of a patented technology that converts organic waste to its simplest form.

How it works

Technically speaking, the process involves microwave energy applied to any organic item, taking the molecular bonds of any item containing hydrocarbons, then overstressing those bonds causing them to break apart. The item is then converted to its most simple form.

In layman’s terms, according to Dr. Stephen Simms, President and CEO of Environmental Waste International, this technological process is easiest to visualization in terms of tires, and how tires and rubber waste is disposed.

“A very common issue when it comes to dealing with an environmental problem is the waste issue, and how you get rid of tires,” Simms explained. “Using the reverse polymerization process, which is the trademark we use to identify the technology patented microwave application, we are able to break down the tire to its simplest form, thus getting carbon black oil, steel, and a collection of hydrocarbon gases from the tire.”

Such technology was developed by the company in the 1990s and, today, further research and developed has allowed for the technology to be used on several potential applications.

“We are one of the best-kept secret in the clean-tech arena,” Simms stated. “What we as a technology represent is an environmentally friendly way to dispose of a lot of the organic waste issues that the world is facing, so we spend a lot of time and focus ensuring our systems address the environmental side as a primary area.”

Four impressive products

The product lineup of Environmental Waste International spans four sectors—used tire recycling, wastewater sterilization, food waste, and medical waste disposal. Accordingly, tire technology is the most popular, and represents a positive economic model.

“In other words, you might meet all your local regulations as per the restrictions on handling wastewater sterilization, food waste, and medical waste disposal, but you don’t make money from doing so,” Simms explained.

However, that changes when it comes to used tire recycling. Specifically, because it comes to the quality of the byproducts of used tires, a fee is paid upon accepting the tires at the front end but also, when finished processing the tires through the reverse polymerization system, you get back the carbon black, oil, and steel, all of which go into new product production, and through this process the user is paid for these byproducts.

Additionally, any off gas is then used as a fuel to generate electricity—more than necessary to operate Environmental Waste International’s facility—and as a power producer, the excess power is sold back to the electrical grid.

Patented Microwave and Delivery Systems

In a lot of ways, these two patented technologies serve as the core of Environmental Waste International.

The competitive edge at Environmental Waste International begins with microwave energy, which directly focuses on the organic item to break it down to a molecular level, reducing it to simpler components to take back what went into it—the byproducts—specifically in terms of man-made hydrocarbons.

“The idea is to take any complex molecular or organic item and break it back to its simple form so we are able to get the building blocks out of it, which then go into new production,” Simms explained.

Additionally, Simms believes that a significant competitive edge for Environmental Waste International is that it uses a lot of competitive technologies to handle waste.

“In a mechanical process, you might make the product smaller but you haven’t actually dealt with the issue of actually deposing of it,” Simms said. “The goal [with these systems] is to make a shred product that can be incorporated back into new products whether it be as a filler, but it is not getting back the original product to a form that can actually be used in its entirety in new products.

“When compared to our technology, the microwave energy is able to take the organic item, again using tires as the example, taking the solid and going directly to a gas through the process of sublimation, so we don’t have that liquid or melted phase, and we’re able to do this at a much lower temperature than what would be involved in a pyrolysis system and, through this, we’re able to get very high quality, unaffected byproducts. We get back the original components that went into the manufacturing.”

Eye on the future

After more than 15 years of growth in niche markets, Environmental Waste International is finally investigating sustainable growth opportunities. As for one example, tire and rubber recycling represents a positive economic model and economic value for Environmental Waste International.

Environmental Waste International is growing from a smaller, research and development company to one that now has opportunities to establish itself in other areas of organic waste and organic resources.

“With the tire, it is a worldwide problem and one that represents a lot of potential and future growth, and it is one that, rather than being a manufacturer and seller, we are looking to expand this into other areas of operation.”

Simms summarized, “It’s a stepping stone for future growth and in establishing Environmental Waste International as a leader in this field.”